O’Farrell climbs about the show boat

On a warm Monday morning,
Barry O’Farrell
was flanked by naval officers on board HMAS Sydney, mouthing the lyrics to (Love Lifts Us) Up Where We Belong.

“Where the eagles fly, on a mountain high," the NSW Premier’s lips moved as the 1982 romantic power ballad reached its crescendo on sparkling waters at Sydney’s Garden Island naval base.

Mr O’Farrell, a self-described football and meat pie man, had rarely looked so animated as his government revealed that the stage musical of the Oscar-winning film An Officer and a Gentleman would hold its world premiere in Sydney.

Maybe this is what the former Labor government had in mind when it hinted before the election about Mr O’Farrell’s secrets. It seems fair to assume the Premier has more than a passing familiarity with a film which spawned a generation of
Richard Gere
fans.

The musical’s director, outgoing Melbourne Theatre Company artistic director Simon Phillips, invited Mr O’Farrell to “barrel up" on a makeshift stage for photos with the original screenwriter, Douglas Day Stewart.

Mr Phillips was sailing close to the wind given Mr O’Farrell’s nickname in a former, more rotund, life, but the Liberal leader looked unperturbed.

Insiders predicted there would be no “razzle dazzle" when Mr O’Farrell replaced Labor performer Kristina Keneally at the helm of the country’s most populous state.

Since then, Mr O’Farrell has put his dancing shoes on, literally, in a bid to buoy tourism investment in NSW. In May, the former Liberal Party state director promised Strictly Ballroom director Baz Luhrmann he’d learn to dance to win the rights to the 2013 premiere of a musical based on the film.

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The state’s new tourism and events body, Destination NSW, estimates international musicals can generate about $20 million in direct economic benefit over a six-month run.

“Major coup" has become the NSW government’s mantra as it boasts of beating London and New York to host international events.

Yesterday’s announcement follows a deal with Tiger Woods for him to compete in the Australian Open in Sydney this November, for far less than the $1.5 million Victoria paid him in 2009, the government insists.

Next on stage is Shakespeare’s Richard III starring US actor Kevin Spacey in December and the Australian premieres of The Addams Family and Legally Blonde in 2012.

Back on HMAS Sydney, it was left to Mr Phillips, the director behind Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical, to crack jokes to make even a sailor blush.

“I’ve been vaguely hopeful that we might meet Cher here sitting astride a missile," he said, in a printable nod to the famous 1989 clip of the scantily-clad singer on a US battleship. “But not to be."

The NSW Premier is already on board for the musical’s debut on May 24. He said the show gave him “something to do on my birthday next year".